MLA wasn’t paying attention when government was doing consultations on Farm Workers Act

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I recently received a copy of the government funded glossy brochure from Cypress-Medicine Hat MLA Drew Barnes. It was disappointing to see MLA Barnes use his ‘Up-date From Drew – Fall 2017’ to yet again drag out that tired old canard that the Alberta government failed to consult before passing Bill 6, the Enhanced Protection for Farm & Ranch Workers Act.

The Alberta government conducted nearly endless consultations for more than a decade prior to Bill 6 coming along.

Mr. Barnes may have been engaged elsewhere at the time, but now that he is paying attention, perhaps he should consult with the various agricultural agencies, boards and commissions that the Alberta government has been engaged with all these years. He would discover all these ag groups have been at the table for years consulting with the Alberta government.

I suggest Mr. Barnes do a little consulting to ascertain the facts and then perhaps he could stop this misinformation campaign. Just because he wasn’t paying attention or didn’t like the outcome doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.

This Alberta government has picked up right where the previous government left off and is building on the work already done.

I would invite MLA Barnes and any others to call the Alberta Farmworker Service Centre if they wish to learn more. The number is 1-844-557-3743.

Eric Musekamp

Bow Island

(The writer represents the Farmworkers Union of Alberta)

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4 Responses to “MLA wasn’t paying attention when government was doing consultations on Farm Workers Act”

Barnes doesn’t care if they consulted or not, he only cares about keeping himself in office so he’ll say anything he thinks he needs to in order to fire up his base and keep them angry at false information. It’s always those that have nothing positive to offer that spend all their time trying to tear down those that do. Just watch the campaigning, one party quickly glosses over their pre-approved talking points while quickly shifting the focus onto the other guys perceived flaws, while those other guys focus only on their plans and goals. I know who I’d rather have running the show.

Eric is pointing out what many of us had already known. The farmers and ranchers had been asking the conservatives to provide them with this coverage for years. We are told that it’s been in place in Saskatchewan since 1970, so why wasn’t it here was the big question?. Then the Wildrose using their fear mongering tactics convinced a whole lot of these hillbilly farmers that it would destroy their family farms. They even made death threats against some of our female MLAs. All the NDP government did was give the farmers what they wanted and shortly after it was approved we learned that the farmers and ranchers had rushed to sign up and we had 36,000 farmers workers who were now protected. Maybe Barnes should get in touch with reality and maybe he should have asked the farmers..

The fact is the Wildrose and Conservatives are desperately running out of excuses to use in their fear monger tactic on gullible Albertans and it’s leaving them with egg on their faces. Those of us living in Edmonton have heard them all. People aren’t buying any of them.

Brian Jean told us Rachael Notley is responsible for the loss of 100,000 jobs in Alberta.. How stupid does he think Albertans are when the oil industry is the largest employer and we know what’s happened to the oil industry. They did it to themselves by over producing, and Notley had nothing to do with it. She is trying to create jobs by taking us further into debt, which these Reform Party Boys don’t want her to do. They don’t want this government helping the people they want this government to fail, it’s their only hope of “Taking Back Alberta” as they call it.

Jean claims the Carbon Tax was something dreamed up by Notley and Trudeau to clean Albertans out of their money. Really when it’s been in place in B.C. since 2008, long before Notley and Trudeau were elected and the oil industry created it.

Brian Jean told us that converting from cheap coal fired produced electricity to natural gas will financially destroy us. Really when electrical engineers have been telling us for years that thanks to Klein’s deregulation we were being screwed. Paying far more than what electricity produced by natural gas was costing people in other areas. The NDP are putting a stop to this gouging by capping what can be charged. Why didn’t the Wildrose suggest doing it? And maybe they can explain to us why cutting down on pollution is such a horrible idea when TransAlta jumped on board the NDPs idea to do so very quickly? Maybe jean should have talked to the power industry before spreading his lies and maybe they should all pull and read “COAL TO GAS/ TRANSALTA.

The fact is there is no way these Reformers can survive from what I’ve seen, they had to unite and hope they could fool enough Albertans to give them a chance. While Jean and Kenney were each travelling the province spreading their lies they were lucky to get 50-60 people who wanted to listen to them as people who attented are telling us. Once again, like it was with Klein, it was mainly seniors who were letting themselves be treated like morons, believing whatever they were told, like the lies I have listed above.

I hope you all read the “Editorial : UCP leadership race an exclusive affair in the Calgary herald yesterday”. To try to eliminate as many leadership candidates as possible to give these Reform Party Boys the best chance to win they have made it so any candidates have to pay $95,000. to enter the race. As the article points out with all their rich friends they won’t have any problem raising that kind of money. Rich friends that they are promising to make a lot richer with the polices they are promising them. As I have said many times before these guys will do anything or say anything to get elected and once again they are proving it. So much for the democratic process that’s use to allow anyone to entry a democratic race. Not in these boys world. I’m betting they have it all worked out where they plan to work together, no matter who wins, forcing Albertans into a worse financial mess, while they help their rich friends. You would have to be a damn fool to support any of them. .